Martin Quintinilla's "Tucson" paintings...at the Contreras Gallery

view of the Contreras Gallery, with Martin Quintinilla's new exhibit

Artist Martin Quintinilla has a new body of work now showing at the Contreras Gallery, in Tucson, AZ.  The theme of this show is "Martin Quintinilla's Tucson".  There are 27 paintings in this show, from huge to pequeño. Included here are Martin's portrayal of Tucson, some images of himself, and some unique creations from his imagination. As with any Quintinilla exhibit, there's always a lot to look at, and no two paintings are alike. Step right this way, the circus has rolled into town!


The first thing you confront when you walk into this exhibit is a massive painting called "Tradado de Guadalupe Hidalgo" mural.  This is a diptych, that measures 6 feet high x 11 feet wide.  The painting depicts an expansive view of Mexico, when still included Arizona.  The quality of the painting shows Martin's skill as representational artist.  A sign painted on the far right side of this mural explains what we're looking at:

closeup of scroll on the "Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo Mural" (right side of mural)

One thing I've notice with Quintinilla's work is that he's got a sense of history.  His imagery includes things from the present (with all of its references to pop culture and current events), as well as links to the past. A good example of that is this mural itself: it provides a quick lesson in some of Tucson's history, and is a great way to introduce a show who's theme is "Tucson". This painting has some other nice details, such as a caballero, as well as some ancient petroglyphs:

a caballero in the lower center of the mural

...and on the left side of the mural, some petroglyphs

The centerpiece of the show is a large painting called "Pecado Original" ("Original Sin").  It looks like a refashioning of the Garden of Eden story, but with Tucson-oriented imagery. Instead of a Tree of Knowledge, we see a large Saguaro Cactus, with a Star of David and a crucifix adorning the center-most arm. A diamondback snake crawls amongst the cactus arms.  The Garden itself appears to be abbreviated, reduced to the size of a small "landscape feature", after real estate developers had their way with it. Adam and Eve are nowhere to be seen. The only characters hanging around the "Cactus of Knowledge" are the Devil himself, and a cute looking sheep.  The Hotel Congress sign hovers above in the background, flanked by bottles of booze, the Rialto Theater, an old-fashioned turntable, and what looks like Mexican lotteria cards.  In the distance, dividing the paintng in half horizontally, are railway cars, spray painted with graffiti.  An all-seeing eye hovers at the top, sprouting marijuana leaves from all angles, and the the bottom, a Mexican wrestling mask, which has grown wings made out of the Mexican flag, and sporting the phrase "Vida Loca".

"Pecado Original"...Tucson style

On the top and sides of the "Pecado Original" painting, are 50 bottle caps from Miller High life beer.  Have a look (I counted them):

Quintinilla's use of beer bottle caps for decoration on the side of this painting (a lotteria character is also visible...)

Next to "Pecado Original" is a self portrait called "Shaman's Eater".  The painting shows Martin as a fire-breathing shaman as he lifts a tiny little doll-sized man into his mouth.  Before him, on a table that is out of perspective, are a large muscular heart on a plate, an ashtray filled with cigarette butts, a copy of Juxtapoz magazine, a large Gumby doll, a toy monster truck, a tiki god, and several human specimens in jars.  Elsewhere in the room hangs a shrunken head, and visible from the window is an Aztec temple flowing with blood.

"Shaman's Eater"

The structure of the picture has the Old World (the world of the Aztecs) in the background, the New World (the world of Gumby, monster trucks, and Juxtapoz magazine) in the foreground. Martin, as Shaman, stands in the center of it all, paintbrush in hand, eating these little people in this ritual of sacrifice. I've heard the artists make sacrifices, but with this painting, Quintinilla has given that phrase a whole new meaning!

One can't help noticing the abundance of text in Quintinilla's work. He doesn't just paint with images, he also includes lots of signs and lettering in his work. A good example of that is his piece called "Downtown"

"Downtown": is that a party animal?

One of my favorite pieces in this show is called "Hipster".  Like in "Pecado Original", you can also see the "Hotel Congress" sign, but here, there are so many other signs to see.  This picture is loaded with signs of hip places downtown, including Hotel Congress, The Rialto, The Fox Theater, The Grill, and a variety of other places such as "Yoga", "Parking", and "Gallery". Martin's always had a psychedelic side to him. In this painting, the whole picture starts to hallucinate, breaking down and flattening out into a network of color patches, patterns, and designs.  Floating at the top center is what I gather is Quintinilla's logo: an all-seeing eye in the center of a spade symbol.

"Hipster"

In the painting "Jardin",  Quintilla paints a psychedelic garden scene, made almost exclusively of whimsical trippy lines and invented shapes. A few roses in foreground remind us that we are, indeed, in a garden....a garden of the mind!

"Jardin"

I like how Martin's paintings demonstrate a sense of place (i.e. Tucson), a sense of history, and an obvious love of pop culture.  I like how he mixes nicely painted pictures of the Arizona landscape, with his oddball imaginary characters, with all sorts of folk art touches (e.g. bottle caps hammered to the frame).  His work is visually rich and is a lot of fun to look at. 

Tucson's got a load of artists, but there's only one Martin Quintinilla!  I think he's really great, and that this is a really fine show. Check it out!